Dance with Brother
by illutia mist
Summary: They were so far before, and now Christmas brought them together. It was time for family bonding.


**This story set two years before 'A Miracle Night', so Mikan and her friends were 14 year old here.**

**I'm trying to experiment with other characters other than Natsume and Mikan, and I think the relationship between Hotaru and Subaru is interesting.**

**I hope you enjoy this short story. And Merry Christmas to all of you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice and its characters. I do own the plot.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Dance with Brother**

**-o-O-o-**

_Dear Hotaru,_

_Are you doing well in the academy?_

_Mom and Dad are fine. There's nothing much happening this year, except for the promotion your Dad got. Isn't it wonderful?_

_Christmas is approaching. Dad asked what you would like to get this year. He would make sure to send it to you. I hope the academy will allow presents to be passed to the students._

_How's Subaru? Have you two been talking often?_

_It's good if you two are getting along._

_I wish all of us could celebrate Christmas together one day. Perhaps once both of you have graduated from the academy._

_I can't wait for that day to come._

_Miss you,_

_Mom_

-o-O-o-

They were small.

They were white.

They were falling from the sky gracefully, covering the ground, washing away the green color.

_I want to get out of here. _Hotaru watched the snow pellets dropping outside without interest, while the Christmas song echoed loudly in the background. The students' joyful yells and clattering sounds of silverwares mixed with the song, causing her a headache. Honestly, she had wanted to walk out of the hall since a few minutes ago, but, of course, something had to hold her back.

And in her case, it was her brunette best friend who had been clinging to her and rambling incomprehensible things for ten minutes now.

"Hotaruuuu…diid youuuu heaar meeee?"

And that girl was drunk.

"Hotaruuuuuuu…"

The young inventor turned her head to the drunk brunette on her right, and furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of her almost unconscious best friend. "Seriously, Mikan, who had given you the damn alcohol?" Hotaru grumbled and pried her arm away from the brunette's clutch. "And stop leaning on me. You're heavy."

Mikan gave Hotaru teary eyes. "But Hotaruuuu…" she wailed and started crying without reason.

Hotaru rolled her eyes and looked around, thinking of a way to get rid of the sobbing brunette. Yuu was the first person that popped into her head, but she couldn't find the figure of the class representative anywhere. And as seconds passed by, having to deal with the annoying sobs coming from Mikan who refused to let go of her, Hotaru started becoming frustrated. She almost came to a decision of using her Idiot Gun against the brunette, and was about to take it out, when her eyes caught someone familiar standing not far away from them.

"Hyuga."

The lad was caught surprised by the sudden weight thrown onto him when he turned at the mention of his surname. His crimson eyes stared at the completely unconscious brunette in his arms, before gazing up at Hotaru in irritation. "Imai, what the hell?"

Hotaru gave him an ignorant shrug before turning away. "Just make sure you don't take advantage of her." She waved a hand at him and headed to the exit.

On her way to the door, Hotaru could see happy faces everywhere. The aura of joyfulness lingered in the air, spreading to every corner of the room. Yet the happiness didn't touch her.

Yes, the party was fabulous. Yes, it was rousing. Big hall, colorful decorations, and delicious food. It was always like that every year, and she had enjoyed each of them so far, surrounded by her friends. But the moment when she felt indifferent about the occasion eventually came.

Today had been that predicted moment, and it all started with a letter she received from Narumi two days ago.

The cold of winter finally reached her when she stepped outside. Her breath came out in white puffs, and the snow crunched under her as she treaded her way to a lonely bench which wasn't far from the building.

The bench was covered in snow, and Hotaru had to sweep one hand over the surface to make a place for her to sit. The melting snow seeped into her glove so fast and touched her palm, causing her lips to form a grim line when she felt how wet her glove was. She sat down on the bench, taking both of her gloves off and placing them on her lap. Her gaze then wandered to the night sky, noting how dark it was and the snow seemed like falling stars.

"Christmas, huh?" she mumbled, and then reached into her dress pocket for a letter. She took out the paper, which was now a bit crumpled since she stuck it carelessly into the pocket when Mikan dragged her to the party, and read over the contents once again.

The letter was short and nothing was out of the ordinary, except for the dry spot of tears at the edge for the paper that she missed the first time she read it. She only noticed the stain when she read it the second time, which was before she was pulled to the party. This finding of hers made the guilt she had buried deep within her surge up, and she couldn't help wishing she could go home and spend the Christmas with her parents, even though it was just for a few hours.

Hotaru shivered, and then reluctantly sneezed. The weather seemed to feel a bit colder all of a sudden. Lifting one hand to cover her nose as she sniffed, the raven haired girl silently cursed the bad weather and folded the letter in her hand, and then decided that it was best if she went back inside. She was about to stand up when something draped over her shoulders, heavy and warm.

Hotaru looked at the snow under her for a while before moving her attention to the foreign things on her shoulders. It was a black coat, and it was the size of an adult. When she turned her head to her back, she saw a familiar figure standing behind the bench, the impassive gaze that was similar to hers staring back at her.

"Brother," she addressed blandly.

"I don't recall I have such a stupid sister who went into the cold in that exposed costume," Subaru said.

"Why don't you propose to the academy to give us another option for the party costume then?"

"It's out of my right."

"Then you have no say in this."

The siblings glared coldly at each other, no one of them willing to give in. It only ended when Hotaru sneezed again, and the lass blamed the sneeze for her loss.

"You better go in," Subaru suggested.

Hotaru looked away. "I was about to when you decided to dump this coat on me."

"You should be thankful for that."

"I don't feel the need to. You do it on your own will."

"Father and Mother will blame me if you fall ill."

"Mom and Dad won't know," Hotaru shot back, lifting her gaze to meet her brother's brown eyes. "You never wrote to them."

Subaru looked startled, but he quickly masked his surprise and looked up at the dark sky.

Then there was silence, awkward, yet comfortable at the same time.

Hotaru brought her gaze to the folded letter in her hands, and wondered if her brother knew about the tears their mother shed whenever she wrote to them, or how she constantly looked at the mailbox, waiting for a reply letter from her son. Perhaps he didn't.

No, of course he didn't know. He wasn't there to see how worry and regretful their mother had been.

Those years had been the hardest years for their mother. She spent each day falling in remorse and struggling to stand up and conceal her sadness for losing her son. Sometimes Hotaru wondered if she was ever tired of it.

"I did."

Hotaru's train of thought stopped at the statement.

"They never reached them."

They; it meant there were many. So many letters the man had written, yet none of them arrived in their parents' hands. None of them was read by the intended recipient.

"Don't you send them out?" Hotaru asked, putting the letter back into her pocket.

He didn't answer.

She glanced at the man from the corner of her eye. His head was still up, his attention still at the sky. Knowing the reply wouldn't come, she shook her head and stood up. Besides, she didn't want to waste her time and risk her health for something fruitless. "I'm going back," she muttered and headed to the direction of the hall.

She hadn't even walked passing him when a hand was extended in front of her. She looked up at the owner of the hand and threw a questioning stare. Subaru's impassive expression gave out nothing, but his lips eventually parted.

"A dance," he said.

Hotaru was taken aback, clearly not expecting the words to come out of his mouth. Then it dawned upon her when a slow paced music reached her ears, telling her that it was time for dancing session. However, she didn't response right away. Instead, she scrutinized his inexpressive mien for a while, searching for his reason for requesting such ridiculous thing.

"First," he added when he realized she wouldn't answer soon, "and last."

The younger Imai finally caught the meaning of his request. She tucked her hands into the coat sleeves and rolled it up until her wrists, then she gazed back at her brother and placed her hand on his big palm, which, surprisingly, was warm. "First, and last," she repeated, before the man positioned his other free hand on her waist and started to sway to the music.

Throughout the dance, she noticed one thing.

His gaze was gentle, reminding her of the feeling she felt whenever she was with her parents.

After all, he was her brother.

It was a short family bonding moment.

-o-O-o-

"Imai, where were you?" Yuu asked her when she walked to the table she occupied before. Anna, Nonoko, and Koko were also there, with sliced cakes in front of them.

Hotaru stared at the four of them, before directing her gaze to Yuu and asking, "Where's the idiot?"

"She's with Natsume," the lad asked while pointing to a direction far to her right. Her eyes followed his finger and, true enough, she found her best friend sitting with the fire caster. No. It's more like the brunette was leaning on him and wailing, just like what she did to Hotaru previously.

_So he didn't take advantage of her after all. _The young inventor's lips stretched into a small smile as she joined Yuu and the other at the table. She dragged one untouched sliced cake in front of her and cut it with a fork.

"Imai," Yuu called, but she didn't bother to look up and continued savoring the cake.

"Hm?"

"Where did you get that coat?"

She spared a glance at the confused class representative for a while, and then paid her attention back to the cake.

"Santa Claus."

-o-O-o-

Dear Mom and Dad,

This Christmas, I danced with Brother.

Hotaru

**-Fin-**


End file.
